I still remember how much I struggled in school as a child. I had difficulty understanding things that were being taught to me by my teachers, and I would grow frustrated watching my fellow classmates seeming to easily succeed where I was failing.
I can recall certain points in my elementary years where I made choices to be irresponsible and not do my homework or not study for a test. In third grade I made a bad habit out of pushing book reports off until the night before they were due. I would hole up in my bedroom, thumbing quickly through books I had not even bothered to read (video games were more important…obviously), thinking I could glean just enough information to write a decent report and receive a passing grade.
I was a child…making childish choices.
But that couldn’t last forever.
There was a turning point for me, as I’m sure there has been for most people, when I made the choice to make more grown up decisions. Instead of getting frustrated with myself and my teachers, I learned how to calm my mind and somehow make sense of the things that seemed impossible before. I started doing my homework and studying for tests like I should. It wasn’t an immediate and perfect turn around…I always struggled in some way, but I was finally growing. Putting away childish things and investing in myself.
Brothers and Sisters, it’s the same way with our relationship with God. The honest truth is, our journey toward spiritual maturity lasts a lifetime. There will never be a point in our existence where we just suddenly have God and His love for us all figured out. We have to be willing to work for it and to seek intimacy with Him. These things can be accomplished by studying His Word and obeying His commandments. Praying with Him, serving Him, and walking as best we can the path of His will for our lives.
Like in our childhood, it won’t be a perfect process…but we will grow, and that’s exactly what God wants for our lives.
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”
--1 Corinthians 13:11 (ESV)
